What is ad strength?
Ad strength is a rating Google gives your responsive search ads — the ads that let you add multiple headlines and descriptions, which Google then mixes and matches to find the best combinations.
The rating runs from Poor → Average → Good → Excellent and appears directly next to each ad in your Google Ads account. Google calculates it based on how many headlines and descriptions you’ve added, how varied they are, and whether they include relevant keywords.
In short: ad strength is Google’s way of telling you whether your responsive search ad has enough variety for its machine learning to test different combinations. It is not a direct measure of how well your ad will perform.
Does ad strength actually affect your results?
This is the question most business owners actually want answered — and the honest answer is: indirectly, yes. Directly, no.
Ad strength does not directly affect your Ad Rank (the score that determines where your ad appears and how much you pay). Google has confirmed this. An ad rated “Poor” can outperform an ad rated “Excellent” if the underlying quality — relevance, landing page experience, and expected click-through rate — is stronger.
However, a low ad strength rating usually means one of two things:
- You haven’t given Google enough headlines and descriptions to work with — which limits its ability to find the best combinations
- Your headlines are too similar to each other — which again limits the variety Google needs to optimise
Both of these things can hurt performance over time, even if they don’t show up in your ad strength score directly. More variety gives Google more data to work with. Less variety means it’s working with a smaller sample.
The honest answer: ad strength is a useful signal, not a performance metric. A “Poor” rating doesn’t mean your ad is performing poorly — it means Google thinks you haven’t given it enough to work with. Focus on what it’s telling you, not the label itself.
How to check your ad strength
Finding ad strength in your account takes about thirty seconds:
- Go to Campaigns > Ads — in the left-hand navigation of your Google Ads account, click Campaigns, then Ads in the submenu.
- Look for the Ad strength column — it should appear by default in the table. If you can’t see it, click the columns icon and add “Ad strength” from the list.
- Click “View ideas” on any low-rated ad — Google will show you specific suggestions for improving that ad’s rating.
What to actually do about it
If you’re rated Poor or Average:
The most common reason is simply not having enough headlines. Google wants 15 headlines and 4 descriptions for a responsive search ad. Most accounts we audit have 5-8 headlines and 2 descriptions. Filling these out properly usually moves you to Good or Excellent quickly.
When adding headlines, focus on variety:
- Include your main keyword in at least 2-3 headlines
- Add headlines that cover different angles — your USPs, your offer, your location, a call to action
- Avoid repeating the same phrase across multiple headlines — Google flags this as low variety
If you’re already rated Good or Excellent:
Stop optimising for the score and focus on the actual performance data instead. Check which headline and description combinations Google is serving most (found under the Ad > Asset details view) and make sure your best-performing combinations are ones you’re happy with.
A common mistake: many business owners add low-quality or irrelevant headlines just to reach “Excellent” rating. This is counterproductive — a weaker headline in the mix can drag down overall performance even if it improves the score. Quality over quantity, always.
The bottom line
Ad strength is worth paying attention to — but not obsessing over. Think of it as a checklist prompt rather than a performance indicator.
If your rating is Poor or Average, use Google’s suggestions as a starting point to add more variety to your ads. If your rating is Good or Excellent, leave it alone and focus your time on the metrics that actually move the needle: click-through rate, conversion rate, and cost per conversion.
The most important thing is that your headlines are relevant to the searches triggering your ads and compelling enough to make someone click. A well-written “Average” ad will almost always outperform a keyword-stuffed “Excellent” one.